German hairdresser ordered to remove anti-fascism Hitler 'waxing strip' posters

A Bavarian hairdresser has been made to take down anti-far right posters that featured the image of Adolf Hitler with a removable moustache.

Ursula Gresser, 28, made posters and flyers featuring the image of the Nazi dictator with a removable piece of paper like a waxing strip on the top lip, allowing his moustache to be stripped away.

"Waxing against the right," read the innovative campaign's slogan, with Gresser and her salon in the city of Cham promising to donate one euro to Exit-Deutschland, an anti-far-right organisation, for every customer who paid for a haircut, shave or wax.

However, two weeks into the campaign prosecutors ordered Gresser to remove the posters and flyers, citing legislation prohibiting the public use of imagery from banned organisations — such as the Nazi party.

"The reason [for the use] doesn't matter," chief prosecutor Theo Ziegler told regional daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, adding it was important to keep such images out of the public sphere so they remain taboo.

In recent months there has been surging support for far-right organisations in Germany, with the grassroots Pegida movement and the AfD party among those opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's open door refugee policies.

Gresser said on her website she was inspired to start the campaign to highlight the dangers of far-right extremism in Germany and wanted to "make the world more beautiful". Having removed the posters and flyers she will face no criminal charges.